Presenter Mary Nightingale outside Westminster Abbey where she was taking part in ITV's coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA

Television audiences for the royal wedding on BBC1 and ITV1 peaked at more than 24 million, according to figures released by the broadcasters.

The vast bulk of the audience share was between 11am and 12.15pm on Friday as Prince William and Kate Middleton took their vows in the service at Westminster Abbey.

BBC1, BBC1 HD and the BBC News channel attracted 19.2 million people during that period, representing 67.2% of the audience share. ITV1 said its coverage, hosted by Julie Etchingham and Phillip Schofield, attracted 5.9 million during the same period, giving the corporation a 3-1 win in the race for ratings.

The audience figures place the wedding in the upper rankings of the most-watched TV broadcasts in the UK, although it was still behind the audiences for the funeral of Prince Diana and the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany.

Earlier in the day, 9.4 million on average had watched BBC coverage fronted by Huw Edwards between 8am and 11am, with 17.5 million watching in the last 15 minutes of that period.

There was an average of 16.6 million viewers for BBC1 between 12.15pm and the news at 1.45pm, a spokesperson for the corporation said.

Viewing figures for BBC Television, including BBC1, the BBC News Channel and BBC HD, showed the audience peaked at 19.79 million – a 70.6% audience share.

Across the BBC as a whole, a total of 34.7 million people tuned in to watch some part of the royal wedding.

More than a million people used BBC iPlayer to watch the coverage.

Mark Byford, the BBC's Deputy Director-General, said: "The huge audience of so many millions who shared the day with the BBC is a testament to all those involved in producing such high-quality and distinctive coverage, and proves once again that the BBC is the broadcaster of choice for audiences during big national events."

There was a peak of 6.1 million viewers watching the coverage on ITV1 as the service began, according to a spokesman for the broadcaster.

Peter Fincham, ITV director of television, said: "We are delighted that more than six million viewers were watching ITV as the royal wedding ceremony got under way and are very pleased that the audience increasingly chose to stay with us during the afternoon, which also reflects the fantastic feedback we have had about our coverage."

About 8,500 journalists were in London for event, including staff from ABC, NBC, CBS and al-Jazeera, The BBC had the biggest broadcast presence with about 550 staff working on the event, at a cost of £2m.